“Dr. Pistrui’s course was useful and applicable in a variety of ways. I would like to express my deep appreciation and thanks to the wonderful learning experience he provided during the period of the program.”

Al-Hussaini Hussain, National Bank of Bahrain

The AcumenSMS was developed to assist both for profit
businesses, and not-for-profit organizations focus on actions that deliver both
immediate results and improve an organizations long term competitive
positioning in changing and dynamic marketplaces.

The AcumenSMS software helps leadership build tools and techniques to manage
across five different perspectives: financial, internal business process,
customers, learning & growth, and vision, governance and continuity. As we
developed versions 1.0 and 2.0 of the AcumenSMS software we interviewed and
worked with a variety of businesses and organizations across the US and Europe.
The organizations we worked with provided excellent practical insights.

The following examples provide a sample of the issues organizations identified
as important.

How do you reduce costs yet stay competitive? How do you balance family and
business needs to ensure growth and continuity? Which product-market segments
are most attractive in today's environment? How can you differentiate your
offering in ways that create value for customers and for the company? What
changes are needed in your organization and operations to successfully and
profitably deliver a highly differentiated value proposition? How do you
restructure your business portfolio and prune under-performing assets without
sacrificing long-term growth potential? How do you build growth and learning
for both family and non-family management?

While elegant analytics and the latest business school methodologies may have
appeal, we emphasize practical approaches to strategy formulation, business
planning and implementation for mid-sized enterprises, Fortune 1000 companies,
and not-for-profit organizations. In areas where a management team already has
all the required information and knowledge, our application helps integrate
strategic thinking, facilitate consensus building and speed decision-making. In
areas where information or knowledge are lacking-for example, in evaluating a
new market, new business opportunity or when considering a new organizational
structure or alternative business model-the AcumenSMS software can help develop
the facts and analysis needed to guide a rigorous decision-making process.

Access to the Application is done only through registration. By
registering each user gets personal access to the ASMS system. If you are a
first time user and need to register chose "Sign Up" rather than existing user.
There you will fill out the registration form and create your personalized Id
and password.

Login

The user logs into the application through login and password. The
password preferably should be 8 characters long for security and reliability
purposes. If you are a new user/first time user do not forget to fill in the
new user form. Once the sign up is completed, then you are just a click away
from entering into the Online Application.

Password

The password is a set of charters the user chooses to log into the
system. The password is encapsulated. Care should be taken to keep the password
at least 8 characters long. Passwords starting with a hyphen (-), underscore
(_), dot (.) and numbers (1, 2, 3.) are not allowed. A typical password starts
with an alphabetical character. Please remember the password throughout the
usage of the application.

The process of developing an Acumen Scorecard will direct an
organization to build a management system that has balance between financial
and operational measures, leading and lagging measures, and vision and mission
based measures that reflect the personality and needs of the stakeholders and
organization.

Company

Actions Taken as a Result of Acumen Scorecard Approach

COMPANY A

Redefined target markets on narrow revenue based niche measures including
retail, wholesale, and international

Set clear measurable goals related to sales revenue and new customer
acquisition-tied compensation to performance

Developed global niche orientation based on profitability

COMPANY B

Developed specific measurable goals based on profit analysis-set specific
profit targets by product line